The new UConn Stamford dorm building in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended a grand opening and tour of the new residence hall,The new UConn Stamford dorm building in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended a grand opening and tour of the new residence hall, which will house nearly 300 students. The 116-unit building is located at 900 Washington Blvd., two blocks south of campus.

A hallway in the new University of Connecticut dormitory in Stamford on Wednesday. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended a grand opening and tour of the new residence hall,A hallway in the new University of Connecticut dormitory in Stamford on Wednesday. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended a grand opening and tour of the new residence hall, which will house nearly 300 students. The 116-unit building is located at 900 Washington Blvd., two blocks south of campus.

A kitchen in the new University of Connecticut dormitory in Stamford. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended a grand opening and tour of the new residence hall, which will houseA kitchen in the new University of Connecticut dormitory in Stamford. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended a grand opening and tour of the new residence hall, which will house nearly 300 students. The 116-unit building is located at 900 Washington Blvd., two blocks south of campus.

A game room in the new University of Connecticut dormitory in Stamford on Wednesday. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended a grand opening and tour of the new residence hall,A game room in the new University of Connecticut dormitory in Stamford on Wednesday. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended a grand opening and tour of the new residence hall, which will house nearly 300 students. The 116-unit building is located at 900 Washington Blvd., two blocks south of campus.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy attends an opening ceremony of the new UConn Stamford dorm building in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended aGov. Dannel P. Malloy attends an opening ceremony of the new UConn Stamford dorm building in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, UConn President Susan Herbst and others attended a grand opening and tour of the new residence hall, which will house nearly 300 students. The 116-unit building is located at 900 Washington Blvd., two blocks south of campus.

A Sacred Heart University dormitory, wellness center and business & communications building occupy the corner of Park Avenue and Jefferson Street in Fairfield.

The expansion of university housing in the region by the University of Connecticut and other schools is making the grade with business leaders and elected officials.

They said they see projects such as UConn’s new dorm building in downtown Stamford as essential to building local campuses and spurring economic growth in surrounding areas. With enrollment rising, such residential infrastructure could grow even further in the coming years.

“It’s a gigantic breakthrough for the UConn-Stamford campus,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who formerly served as Stamford’s mayor, said in an interview Wednesday. “There’s an understanding that with more housing, a regional campus can draw a substantially larger number of students primarily based there.”

Growing on-campus presence

UConn’s six-story building at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Main Street is the first dedicated college dormitory in Stamford. It includes 116 units.

On Saturday, 260 full-time students, mostly freshmen, will start moving into the building’s 10 studios, 57 two-bedroom and 49 one-bedroom units. The apartments include full kitchens, bathrooms and granite countertops

“If you look at cities that grow, most have very healthy university populations,” said Joe McGee, vice president of public policy for The Business Council of Fairfield County. “We really felt that UConn-Stamford needed to grow, and that having a housing option would be very important. Having the students downtown adds a lot of vibrancy to the downtown.”

Room-and-board costs for a shared apartment range between $995 and $1,295 a month. School officials have said those rates offer a more affordable option than off-campus properties in the city, where one-bedroom units average about $1,900 per month and two-bedroom typically lease for $2,700.

The dormitory is a response to rising enrollment. UConn-Stamford’s headcount for the fall semester totals 2,300 students, compared with 2,100 in the 2016 fall term. The Stamford campus’ incoming freshmen class numbers some 550 students, compared with 370 last year.

“An urban element to the UConn experience is incredible,” said Michael Moore, the Stamford Downtown Special Services District’s new vice president of operations and a UConn alumnus. “It’s great to see that vibrancy, that youth, that energy.”

UConn is not the only university making major investments in housing stock for southwestern Connecticut students.

Western Connecticut State University in Danbury this year re-opened Litchfield Hall on its midtown campus after the building was closed last year for a $15 million renovation. To accommodate students last year, the school sent many freshmen to housing on the west campus, where double rooms squeezed in three students and lounges became makeshift dorm rooms.

“It was closed in and dark. It was very rundown,” Paul Steinmetz, WestConn’s director of university and community relations, said of the building’s former condition. “Now it’s more comfortable and easier to live in. It’s not just a place to store students between classes.”

Litchfield Hall has 229 double rooms to house more than 450 students. WestConn has six residential halls, three on each campus. After having some empty beds in the years following the recession, the school’s residential halls are filled this year. Of the nearly 5,000 students who attend the school, 35 percent use on-campus housing.

Move-in day for freshmen is Friday, but athletes got a jump on the action Tuesday.

“It looks really nice,” said Mike Munson, a kicker on the Colonials’ football team, as he pulled a corner of a fitted sheet over a new mattress. “So far, I really like it.”

Looking ahead

A number of southwestern Connecticut universities are set to update their housing inventories in the coming years as enrollments continue to climb.

Fairfield University is building a residence hall that is set to open in the fall of 2018. It will house 200 beds for sophomores. It will include lounges on each floor and classroom space on the first floor.

The new building follows the 2011 opening of the university’s Meditz Hall apartment building.

Sacred Heart University, also in Fairfield, is renovating a nearly 16-acre property adjacent to its main campus. The site will become a residential village that includes student housing and a dining hall.

With capacity for about 300 students, the new Stamford dorms give UConn room for growth. Malloy said he could see the university’s housing in the city further expanding in the coming years.

“I think it’s incumbent upon universities to look for additional possibilities and relationships to grow their campuses,” Malloy said. “Residential growth is an important part of the equation.”